“Do you agree that basketball is still a big man’s game,” I asked Dayton Flyers guard Javon Bennett after UD had overwhelmed Cedarville, 75-40, in the final exhibition game of the season.
In the victory, the Flyers’ 6-10 DaRon Holmes II led his team with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Holmes is one of the best big men in a college game that boasts a lot of them this season, including: Purdue’s 7-foot-4 Zach Edey; Duke’s 6-11 Kyle Filipowski; Arizona’s 7-foot Oumar Ballo; 7-foot-1 Hunter Dickinson, of Kansas; Creighton’s 7-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner, North Carolina’s 6-10 Armando Bacot; and UConn’s 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan.
Bennett, who’s listed at 5-foot-10 in the game program, making him the shortest player on the team, shook his head at the question:
“I’m going to be biased, but no! It’s not a big man’s game!
“At any height you can make an impact. You just have to work hard and find the ways you are going to impact the game.”
And that’s exactly what he did when Maughmer picked off his pass with 1:47 left.
“If I get a turnover, my instinct is to get it back as fast as possible,” he said. “When that happened, I put it in a perfect picture: ‘I’ve gotta get that ball back, whether it’s in the first six seconds or we get back on defense and I help make a stop.’”
Saturday, instead of six seconds, it took him just five!
“I zeroed in on that guy and I saw the ball in his hand, and I was like, ‘You know? I’m just going to go for it.’ And that’s what I did.”
He ran across the width of the court and stole the ball back with 1:42 left.
Plays like that are going to make him a favorite of the UD Arena crowd and, if the past is prelude, there will be plenty of them.
He transferred into UD in the spring after playing last season at Merrimack, where, as a true freshman, he finished second in the nation in steals with an average of 2.9 a game.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Since coming to UD, he’s kept the same M.O.
In last Sunday’s exhibition against Ohio State, he led the Flyers with four steals. Saturday, he had two, along with three assists and 10 points.
In practice it’s more of the same.
“He’s most definitely a pest,” said fellow guard Kobe Elvis, who had 12 points Saturday on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range. “One practice he ripped me a couple of times. You definitely have to get used to going against him and protecting the ball.”
Bennett smiled as Elvis made the admission:
“That’s one aspect I really take pride in. Me, how small I am, I like to get in people’s grill and try to get under them and take steals from them.”
At Trinity Prep Academy in Winter Park, Fla., outside Orlando — where he broke the school scoring record with over 2,000 career points — his coach, Eric Schneider called him “a one-man press.”
Even so, most Division I schools got hung up on the height thing and he said he had just three scholarship offers: Jacksonville, Stetson and Merrimack, the school in North Andover, Mass., that was transitioning from NCAA Division II to Division I.
After being named the Rookie of the Year in the Northeast Conference (NEC) last season, he said he felt he’d shown he could play at a higher level.
He entered the transfer portal and drew quick interest from UD‚ thanks in part to associate head coach Ricardo Greer, who said he’s known Javon since fifth grade.
Greer’s son R.J. played AAU basketball on a Florida team coached by Javon’s dad, Corey.
Although he also had transfer visits scheduled with Jacksonville, Charlotte and William and Mary, Bennett came to UD first and was so impressed, he committed on the spot and never bothered checking out the other schools.
He said he especially hit it off with coach Anthony Grant, whom he believes can push him to new heights.
After Saturday’s game, Grant said if Bennett can pick up the system and embrace his new role, he’ll be invaluable to the team:
“I think he’s a sparkplug for us.”
Bennett said it’s easy for him to get amped up playing in UD Arena.
He’d never been to a game at UD Arena before the OSU exhibition.
“It’s more than I ever expected,” he said. “Nothing compares to the atmosphere and how loud it gets in there. And I haven’t even played a regular game in there yet.
“Just being in the tunnel before we run out, I’m jumping up and down like I’m going into a fight. I feel like I’m in an NBA game. And I think the atmosphere is just going to keep getting better as the season goes.
“I think AG and his staff did a good job of really getting players (four transfers, three freshmen) that fit the system and are going to help out. I really see us going far with the guys we have. I think we can all make an impact.”
He knows he can.
Like he said:
“No! It’s not a big man’s game.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
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